One of the things I enjoyed most in Lamu was immersing myself in the culture of the local people. I loved sampling their food (like, duh!!!) and enjoyed even more learning how they prepare things that are typically not as common in inland regions of the country. During our last day of the Lamu Food Festival, we were treated to a hands on swahili cooking class. This was at a local restaurant on Shela beach, overlooking the sea and enjoying the breeze coming in during that hot mid morning. Making Faluda was one of my favorites! It was so easy to make, and as usual, very very tasty to have. You can check out how Umma took as through here. This time I try it out, and of course with my own twist :)). Considering mango season is coming to and end, lets wind it down in style with my chilled mango coconut faluda <3.

PREP TIME: 20 MIN MAKE TIME: 30 MIN MAKES:2

Ingredients

1 apple mango

1 tablespoon of cardamom seeds

1/2 a cup of coconut milk

1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of gelatin

1 cup of milk

Pumpkin seeds (for garnish)

Raisins (for garnish)

Method

Peel your mango place this in a blender together with your coconut milk. Set aside.

In a sufuria add the milk, cardamom seeds and the sugar. Slightly split the cardamom seeds so that the flavors seep to the milk with ease. Let your milk simmer on low heat until its just about to boil. Do not do this step on high heat since you need to allow the cardamom to really infuse into the milk. After you are done, turn off the heat, discard the cardamom seeds and allow the milk to slightly cool down.

After the milk has cooled down, add the mango-coconut milk puree and mix it in. If it does not mix together that smoothly, pop this into a blender and run it for about a minute so that everything mixes perfectly.

Pour this into a jug. In a small bowl. Add the gelatin and 6 tablespoons of water and mix it all up. Pour the gelatin into the jug that has the mango coconut milk and mix it all up. The gelatin is what makes your faluda have a jelly-like consistency. I bought my gelatin from carrefour and you can also get some from Walibhai on Biashara Street. It is not of your reach :))

Ladle this to your bowls and allow them to solidify and cool. I put mine into a freezer just to speed up the solidifying process and ensure my dessert was cold and not at room temperature.

This dessert not only has those warm inviting flavor of the coast, but it also has all the flavors that I love most and the fruit I love out of all: Mango. The nuttiness of the coconut, the aromatic cardamom flavor and the sweet luxurious mango all in one bite is something you will never forget!